What is a brand, really? Companies spend so much time coming up with the right colours and logos, but to what end? Why should a company waste their time with branding?

Branding is not about the company, it’s about the consumer. Some of you get this, and that’s great! But some of you don’t. So what am I trying to get to? Think about branding this way: A brand is a perception. It is a perception of a company, product, service, etc., in the consumer’s mind. Companies can work on how they want their offer to be positioned in the consumer’s mind, but in the end, it is the consumer that forms the perception, and creates the brand. So what is branding to a consumer then?

A familiar brand is a brand you can trust

How many people use VISA or MasterCard as their credit card provider? Why? It’s because they see this brand over and over again, everywhere they go. And since this brand is everywhere, it becomes very familiar to consumers. When something is familiar, it seems more credible, and consumers trust it more.

So what can you do to increase familiarity? Develop a brand awareness strategy. Use communication methods that will increase the chance of consumers seeing your brand. Develop a website. Develop a blog. Develop a social media strategy so you can share your blog. Use offline sources as well. The more your brand is out there, the more chances consumers will see it, the more they will start trusting your brand.

A brand is comfort

I use Tide, and nothing else to wash my clothes. Why? My mom used it when I grew up. I got used to the smell. Now I use it because it reminds me of growing up, and it’s comforting. It’s a brand that was there my whole life. Same thing with Kraft peanut butter. I like it because it is comforting to me. Consumers develop this bond with brands, or brand loyalty. Once a consumer is loyal to a brand, s/he returns to that brand because it is comforting.

So what can you do for this? Try to create an emotional connection between your brand and the consumer. Using nostalgia is a way to communicate comfort. If you can get consumers to be emotionally attached to the brand, consumers will feel comfort from the offer, and will develop brand loyalty.

I feel soooooooo comfortable right now!

A brand is an extension of the self

Are you familiar with the consumer behaviour concept of the extended self? A consumer has a self concept, and an ideal self. And there’s a theory out there saying that consumers surround themselves with products or services that represent who they are (personality, character traits, emotions, etc.) or who they want to be. I buy Calvin Klein clothing because it makes me feel accomplished. My girlfriend bought Toms because she is trendy. My dad bought an iPhone because he WANTS to be cool and trendy. See where I’m going with this?

So what can you do? Spend a little more time understanding your target market. So you know how old they are, where they’re from, and how much money they make. But what type of activities do they do? What are their interests? Do they have common personality traits? What do they like? If you can answer these questions, you can tailor your positioning statement to what they like in order to influence their perception of your brand.

So to put this very simple, a brand is not what the company wants to be, it is what the consumers perceive it to be. You can throw all of the colors, logos, catch-phrases, slogans, jargon you want to try to shape the consumers perception, but in the end, the consumer decides what the brand is. A brand is what the consumer perceives it to be. Without customers, you do not have a brand. What do you think? Am I right, or am I way off on this one?

I decided for this blog to take a completely different approach to branding. Instead of the company and employees deciding what the brand is, I focused on what the consumer thinks the brand is. I think that’s often an overlooked aspect when it comes to branding.

Daniel, I cannot fault the logic, but it is one dimensional, as it is only about how you can speak to the consumer ‘tailor your positioning statement to what they like in order to influence their perception of your brand’. You have to DO as well as SAY. Brands promise, people deliver. It is as simple as that. Too often brands – big brands, think that the answer to their failing sales is comms. When the consumer is showing lack of interest, the answer is….another comms campaign! Yeah, get the ad agency back in! They have planners who are on the pulse of the consumer. They will cook something up. increased awareness may increase sales but it will not improve your brand scores.

This is not at odds with your argument. Brand IS what the consumer says it is. The difference is that perception is based on experience not communication.

I do agree with you that for this post, I kept it one-sided with communication. I understand that communications is only part of it, it’s only about how to get your message out there. And I do understand that what companies DO matters much more when it comes to branding. I wrote a post a couple weeks ago about personal branding, but it could easily be translated to corporate branding. It’s more about what you do than what you say, you should check it out: http://su.pr/3swtzG

As for your last statement, I do not completely agree. I think perception is based both on experience and communication. When I got my first computer, I purchased a Dell because that was the brand the most familiar to me and my family, so I thought I could trust it. I had this perception that Dell computers are great, blah blah blah, because I never had experienced one. Communication was the only thing I could use to form my perception. Then my Dell broke, and I had to order new parts from Dell to replace it, then find a technician that could actually work with Dell parts (in a town of 1500 people, that’s hard). It was a bad experience for me, so it reshaped my perception. The experience is important, but communication is as well.

In recent research we found that advertising is the most powerful medium to move a liked brand to a loved brand, so no argument about the communication side of the story.

Sorry to hear about your DELL. In fact no doubt so are the thousands who read your blog. Bad news for Dell. Now, IF you called Dell and IF they told you there was no technician local to you, but in saying that, they expressed deep sympathy and understanding and tried to hook you up with an alternative – you might feel different…. I know i would.

The key to brand success is letting employees in on the promise you make to customers and empower (recognise and reward) them to deliver on the promise, thus closing the SAY-DO gap.

I completely agree with what you are saying here. It is the bridge between SAY-DO that makes a brand great. And it is important for everyone in the company to understand what the brand is trying to accomplish. Thanks for your comment! 🙂

I like the big picture of CK .. It seems your blog is branding CALVIN KLEIN 🙂 .. However brand perception is always been a consumer thing.. and for that study of consumer behavior is much more important for marketers than companies to focus on branding itself.

I agree. Studying consumer behaviour is very important. I think it’s so important, that it should become a part of branding! Did you read my post “The 3 Stage Theory of Branding?”. I kind of take a consumer approach to branding, and that they create branding in their minds. You can read it if you want :).

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Daniel Hebert

A little bit more about me…

Daniel Hebert is an award-winning graduate of Mount Allison University. While he studied marketing, his favourite subject was learned outside the classroom: Social Media Strategy. Daniel has been a social media manager in the B2B sector, and now has his own blog.
Daniel’s social media presence has gotten him a lot of attention in his local community, which has lead to guest speaking events. It also led to others writing pieces about his social media approach, including articles from Ragan Communications, Media Bistro, and Chris Dessi, CEO of Silverback Social.
Daniel has an entrepreneurial, self-motivated attitude, which has led him to be a finalist in one of Canada’s top business competition for students. If he wasn’t a marketer, he would take his love for food and become a chef. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.